Lemoni Lemon 1.0.0

In 1956, small-town American baker George Lemoni took a once-in-a-lifetime trip through Europe. Inspired by the compact cars he saw there, he returned with a dream: to manufacture small automobiles affordable by even the least fortunate among his countrymen.

By 1959, he'd begun production on a run of 100 vehicles for sale, with a small flurry of local media interest about the small business owner who would make sure that everyone had easy access to transportation. Sadly for Lemoni, things did not work out. The resulting automobile, officially called the Lemoni 59C (more commonly called "Lemoni's Lemon") was not marketable by any stretch of the imagination.

Though fitted with front and rear bench seats, it proved far too cramped to comfortably seat four, to say nothing of its intended six. A complete dearth of comforts found standard on other American cars of the era made it an unappealing buy. Additionally, multiple quality-control issues at the tiny factory resulted in easy breakage. Not only that, but its unconventional rear gas cap made refueling problematic (and cut into trunk space).

The front and rear leaf-spring suspension was outdated even for the time, and its poor tuning resulted in an uncomfortable ride and poor handling characteristics. Although obstinately intended to drive better on dirt roads, it did nothing of the sort. Furthermore, the low quality materials resulted in frequent need of replacement.

The body made copious use of cheap plastics, partially to keep costs down and partially to ensure that the car was light enough for its under-powered engine to cope. Unintentionally, this made the vehicle a death trap, a problem worsened by its outmoded safety features.

Worst of all was the engine, a straight-piped, obnoxiously loud, notoriously unreliable 2.2-liter 4-cylinder prone to knocking and valve float, which generally suffered from leakages and often smelled bad enough that it was often joked that people could smell it before they heard it. Coupled with a cheap 2-speed transmission, the Lemon was remarkably slow.

Lemoni's engineers were well aware of the problems with the car, but it was reported that their pleas went ignored during the design phase.

Unsurprisingly, Lemoni was unable to compete with the vastly superior offerings of Gavril and Bruckell, and his business went under before they had completed their first production run. Only 87 of the intended 100 were built (most of which have rusted away).

Lemoni himself returned to the life of a baker, still insistent that his automobile was a winning combination that died before its time.

Due to the massive emissions problems, significant noise, safety violations, and improperly-placed turn indicators, it is no longer legal to drive a stock model on American roads.